Dr. Rodolfo Gari Talks Best Posture and How It Helps To Avoid Back Pain

Interviewer: We’ve heard it since we were kids, sit up straight. We all know slouching is bad for the back, but sitting up straight can also cause strain. Dr. Rudy Gari from Florida Pain Relief Group is here to help us find the happy medium. Hi Dr. Gari.

Dr. Gari: Hello.

Interviewer: So I think I’m sitting properly right now.

Dr. Gari: Yes, you are. Yes, you are.

Interviewer: Okay. But is there some ways that we can sit that we think we’re doing the right thing but we’re not?

Dr. Gari: Well, there is something that’s called the loss of lordosis. So people that have for example back pain. So your back should be curved. That’s called the lordosis. It means the curvature of the back that’s natural. And so, that actually allows us to have less back pain when we have that lordosis. Patients that have back pain for example can get muscle spasms and they lose that typical lordosis and now their back is flat. That flatness actually increases the pressure in nerve because our bodies were not designed to sit that way.

So while posture is very important, but often with the terms posture is also your core muscles. So strengthening your core muscles in many ways helps your posture, helps your pain and there is a lot of things that are done with physical therapy.

Interviewer: Yes, indeed. So bad posture can cause not only back pain but what else can that do?

Dr. Gari: Well, it can cause back pain and it can also cause you to pivot the wrong way. It can cause you to have a bad gait and it can lead to a lot of other problems in your back, in your neck, and other places.

Interviewer: I’m thinking neck and headaches from bad posture.

Dr. Gari: Absolutely. Absolutely.

Interviewer: Definitely. Okay. Should we get things for our chairs and…

Dr. Gari: Well, if you think about it, sitting in chairs is not natural.

Interviewer: Okay. So stop sitting?

Dr. Gari: So our bodies weren’t designed to sit but we do. So one of the things that people do is some very simple things. For example, sitting at that big medicine ball. That’s going to correct your posture because your body is gonna normally adjust, your core muscles are going to pick it up to make sure that you don’t fall, that you sit correctly.

Interviewer: So throw out that office chair and get the medicine ball?

Dr. Gari: Throw out the office chair and get that big medicine ball, sit on the medicine ball, stand up. Standing is much better for you than sitting.

Interviewer: All right.

Dr. Gari: And especially when it comes to that pressure on your lower back.

Interviewer: They do have those stand up desks now.

Dr. Gari: Those are pretty good.

Interviewer: Do you recommend that?

Dr. Gari: I absolutely do. High heels can cause some bad posture. I know that you know that though. Everybody likes high heels, we feel good about it but if you have back pain, that’s not…

Interviewer: Put those away.

Dr. Gari: You might wanna put those away for a while.

Interviewer: Too much strain. Let’s talk about picking things up wrong. What are we doing?

Dr. Gari: Well, the worst thing that you can do is to bend forward and pick something up.

Interviewer: Okay. Don’t do that.

Dr. Gari: If you must pick up, don’t use your back muscles to lift that object. You wanna make sure you maintain that lordosis, that curvature. Squat down and use your legs to lift up that object. Sometimes we have those back braces so you can put those on if you have to lift something because that’s gonna help your back. What you don’t wanna do though, you don’t wanna wear those on a regular basis because that will actually weaken your core muscles. We want our core muscles to be the ones doing the work of keeping posture and not get used to those back braces.

Interviewer: So the key to keeping that healthy is keeping this habit?

Dr. Gari: It’s all about the core muscles absolutely, Pilates.

Interviewer: Right, yeah, very well.

Dr. Gari: You know Pilates, right?

Interviewer: Mm-mmh.

Dr. Gari: Pilates was a physician who started that because he had back problems and he did all those exercises for himself.

Interviewer: All right. It might be time to try some of those. Dr. Gari, thank you very much. Florida Pain Relief Group even schedules same-day appointments. You can visit their website, or give them a call. It is 844 (KICK-PAIN). We’ll be right back with more Daytime so don’t go away.

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ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Rodolfo Gari, MD

Rodolfo Gari, M.D., MBA, founded Physician Partners of America in 2013 after practicing medicine and seeking a healthcare system that benefits both patients and doctors. He practiced as both an anesthesiologist and pain management physician in Tampa before founding his own pain management practice, Tampa Pain Relief Center. In 1999, he built his own surgery center to practice interventional main management in a way that benefited both physicians and their patients. He went on to found Surgery Partners, Tampa Pain Relief Center and Anesthesiology Professional Services, a group of medical practices with multiple offices throughout Florida. After selling the business, Dr. Gari created Texas Pain Relief Group, the first affiliate of Physician partners of America. The company has grown from a single clinic to nearly 30, and from three employees to more than 500.

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